


I'll Say I Love You in a Text Message

by badboy_fangirl



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-29
Updated: 2011-12-29
Packaged: 2017-10-28 11:15:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/307295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badboy_fangirl/pseuds/badboy_fangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler leaves town, and comes back again. (Post 2x14 "Crying Wolf" fic.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Say I Love You in a Text Message

He ignores her first three texts. (And he's sorry he returned her phone to her mailbox before he left town.)

 _Where are you?_

 _How could you leave without saying anything to me?_

 _Tyler Lockwood, you're a coward._

She sends them all on the same day (three days after he leaves Mystic Falls with Jules), one about every three hours, like she's timing him, like she's giving him a chance. He can just see her pacing around, checking her phone, looking at the clock, being angry with him.

Or maybe it's in between make-up make out sessions with Matt that she thinks to send him some little reminder of her.

The fourth one comes in after he's climbed into bed.

 _If our friendship means anything to you, you will text me right this minute!_   


Jules is asleep, on the other end of the travel trailer, and he almost shuts his phone off, just letting Caroline Forbes fade away like everything else about Mystic Falls. It's all in his rearview mirror now.

But he just can't. If there's anything from that place he wants to hold on to, it's Caroline.

So he slowly types out, _You mean everything to me. But it's better this way._ (It's way easier to be honest in a text, when he can't see her eyes, and that little head tilt thing she does when she's feeling sorry for him.)

He shuts his phone off after that, sticks it in the toe of his shoe and attempts to go to sleep.

Hours later, he pulls it back out to send another text.

 _Besides, didn't you say we're not friends anymore, anyway?_

After that, he sleeps really well.

 

 

He's been on the road with Jules for five days--they're taking their time going back to Florida since all of Jules' werewolf buddies bit the dust--when he realizes he doesn't really like her. She might be a werewolf like him, and she might have tips for him, plans and a code to live by and all that, but she's fucking annoying. She's obviously used to being in charge, and she sure as hell thinks she gets to boss him around for some reason.

(Not fucking likely.)

Caroline hasn't responded to his last text, and he tells himself that's for the best. It should just be a clean break, and whenever his throat starts to get tight because of thoughts about her, he tries to cling to the idea that she lied, that she knew about Mason, and on top of that didn't tell him a lot of shit (the Salvatores are vampires).

Unfortunately, all of that doesn't make the feeling of her arms around him during the worst time of his life fade away, or her lips under his when she had kissed him back, even if it freaked her out. _She kissed him back_ and then he had to be all noble and go tell Matt nothing happened on Caroline's end.

Something happened. It wasn't just him, even if it was _more_ him. She had been into it too, for a minute anyway.

She'd risked her life for him, more than once. And he hadn't repaid her very well at all.

He gets why she didn't want to be friends with him anymore. He deserves that, at the very least.

He pulls his phone out and sends another message. _You were the best friend I ever had. I should have treated you better._

"You need to stop that," Jules says, her jaw tight.

He looks out the window at the passing scenery as he tucks his phone into his pocket. "That was the last one," he says, and he really believes it as it leaves his mouth.

 

 

They're fifty miles from Daytona, and Jules pulls over at a rest area to use the bathroom. "Stretch your legs," she advises as she exits the truck. Tyler gets out and walks around on a grassy knoll nearby as she heads towards the ladies' side of the building.

He hasn't checked his phone for two days, so he does it now without any prying eyes. When he does, he's got a couple voice messages from his mother (one tells him that she reported him as a runaway to Sheriff Forbes), and three more texts from Caroline.

 _It's not better this way._

 _I forgave you when Elena told me what you did for her and Stefan._

 _You were my best friend, too, Tyler. You're the only one I can be totally honest with. (I only lied to keep you safe, I swear.)_

He's just standing there staring at Caroline's words when a cop pulls into the parking spot right next to their rig. Tyler debates for a minute, but then Jules comes out of the restroom, and he knows it's now or never. He hasn't been kidnapped, but if he's going to go home without too much fuss, this is it.

Turns out he doesn't even have to say anything, the Amber Alert had just come over the cop's radar because his mother guessed he might go to Florida. (He finds out later that Stefan Salvatore told her about Jules, but his mother doesn't press charges against her. She leaves him at a police station in Florida, driving away without looking back.)

It's like it was meant to be.

 

 

 _I'm back_.

He texts her the morning after he gets home. He's been gone a total of six days, and he would have called her sooner, except that he owed it to his mom to let her lecture him for two hours and then hug him for like three the night before.

She doesn't text him back, and he figures now she's so pissed all that stuff she said doesn't count anymore.

His mom comes to his room and tells him someone's downstairs to see him, and he hopes, but he doubts, too. And as he hopes, he wonders what the hell he'll say to her if his hopes are rewarded.

She's standing just inside the front door, and the sunlight's hitting her just right. She glows a little, and he has this weird flash of going to see _Twilight_ with Vicki, and how they'd laughed so loud when the vampire guy sparkled in that movie that they got tossed out of the theater for disturbing everyone.

If vampires sparkled in real life, they'd look just like Caroline Forbes, that much he knows.

"Hey," he says as he gets to the foot of the stairs. She turns around and her face is already encased in a giant smile. She walks right up to him and hugs him, and relief sweeps him.

He's home, and he's got his friend back, and he's just so grateful. (He tries not to want anything else as he feels every inch of her body pressed against his.)

"Are you okay?" she asks as she pulls back.

He nods. "Yeah, yeah. I'm great." She tilts her head and one side of her mouth goes up skeptically so he says, "Okay, I'm not great. But I _am_ okay." He looks into her eyes and he can't stop the next words he says, "I'm really glad to see you."

She beams at him. "Want to go for a walk?" she asks.

"Sure."

 

 

They walk down by the pond in relative silence. He doesn't know what to say because all the thoughts that crowd to the forefront of his mind are totally inappropriate to say to a girl who is just your friend. He shoves his hands into his jeans pockets to keep from grabbing at her.

 _You're so beautiful._

 _I totally dig you._

 _Maybe it would be better if you didn't forgive me._

She glances at him from the corner of her eye and then moves closer to him, sliding her arm through his. "Did your mom ground you for life?" she asks.

Saved again, by the vampire girl, even from an awkward situation. "No, she decided I'm just grief-stricken because of my dad, and my uncle, and Sarah--and you know, how it's just been a really crappy year."

"Hmmm," Caroline says. "It's hard when you can't exactly say that's not the problem, because all of that is the problem; it's just that you have an even bigger problem than that on top of all of it."

"Yeah, Caroline," he says, bumping into her on purpose. "I know." She giggles softly and just keeps smiling at him like he did something really funny. "So, is Damon Salvatore going to kill me?"

Her face relaxes into a less happy expression. "No, not as long as Stefan and I have anything to say about it. Well, and Elena too--probably more because of Elena, because Damon's sort of in love with her--"

"What?" Tyler barks.

"--Oh, Tyler! You have no idea how glad I am you know everything now, so I can _talk_ to you about it! Yes, both of the Salvatore brothers love Elena, and it's just drama, drama, drama with them all the time, even though the three of them try to pretend nothing's going on. It's ridiculous, really. But getting back to your longevity--as long as you'll help protect Elena--Stefan actually had this idea. That maybe we could fix it up so that you bite an Original on the next full moon. See if that kills them."

"What's an Original?"

"Oh, God!" Caroline groans. "So much to tell you. I'll catch you up on all of that later. First things first--I need to ask you a question."

Tyler is actually much more interested in learning all the things that have been kept from him this whole time, but he can see Caroline has that determined expression on her face, so he's got to give it up for now. They've circled the pond now and are sort of heading back towards the house when he veers away and leads her to a bench that's conveniently located. "What's the question?" he asks as they sit down facing each other.

"Did you mean it? When you told Matt you fell for me?"

Caught off-guard, Tyler feels sucker punched by that question. Never in a million years did he expect Matt to repeat verbatim what he said. Maybe because he never thought he'd see any of them ever again, but it's only been a week now, and-- _shit_. "Uh...."

"Matt and I didn't get back together," she says when he doesn't really answer her.

"Why not?" he asks.

Caroline looks away, and a troubled expression crosses her face. "Because you left, and when I realized I might never see you again--it changed everything."

Tyler's heart starts to beat double time and he curls his hands into fists on his thighs to keep himself from reaching for her. "You love Matt," he says, and he knows it's true. He's seen the way she looks at his friend, and she told him herself that they couldn't start anything up because Matt was still in the picture. And it's _Matt_. Everyone loves him, except Elena.

"I do love Matt," she agrees. Then she looks back at him. "But I missed _you_ , and I couldn't stop thinking about _you_ and I wanted _you_ to come home. And here you are. I can't ignore that."

Tyler shakes his head because he's trying to be logical about this. "Maybe you should. Because once a month, I might kill you."

Caroline smiles, her teeth flashing. "It does add an element of danger, that little fact."

"Fuck, Care," he says in exasperation, but he freezes when she puts her hand over his on his leg. He watches her fingers lace through his and he wonders if this is suddenly turning into the fantasy he's had ever since he woke up, naked and empty, and she'd still been there, like some kind of guardian angel.

"It was easier when we were texting to just say how I felt," she says, her voice soft.

Tyler clears his throat. "Yeah, back when I thought it was a good idea to just blab the truth because I'd never have to see you again."

"Tyler..."

He grabs her face with his free hand and kisses her.

She kisses him back, no hesitation.

In fact, it's Caroline whose mouth opens and whose tongue flicks out and Tyler thinks his head might explode. He yanks his fingers free of hers so he can hold on to her with both hands, pulling her as close as possible on the bench. He kisses her aggressively, and she gives back just as strongly. This is just one of the many things that makes Caroline better than every other girl anywhere--he doesn't have to worry he'll hurt her, because he knows she could kick his ass if she wanted to. When they finally break apart for a little oxygen, she giggles, and heat engulfs him. He wants her so much. Her hands have somehow ended up on each of his biceps and her nails dig into his flexed arms lightly. "You fell for me?" she asks again and he realizes he never answered her.

He nods, and licks his lips. All he can smell is Caroline, she permeates everything and he thinks of Jules-- _you can't sniff them out?_ \--but he knows this will never be a bad smell to him. Vampires will never be his natural enemy, even though genetically they should be. "I fell hard," he breathes, brushing his lips over hers again.

"I think I'm falling as we speak," she whispers and then she kisses him again and mumbles, "As we _kiss_..." against his lips.

"We're crazy. This is a totally bad idea," he whispers back.

"I don't care," she says, and up close, he can see she means it sincerely. "Don't ever leave me again, Tyler."

He shakes his head. "No. I won't."

She slips her arms around his middle and tucks her head against his shoulder. Sitting there, quiet with her, makes Tyler think maybe this isn't the worst year of his life.

Maybe something really great is happening to balance out all the bad.

Maybe he'll tell her later. After she leaves, he'll text her all the things he can't get out right now.


End file.
